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When you have an oversupply of labor compared with demand, it results in lower pay for labor. This is why low skilled workers are paid so little in general. Driving a car is not a high skill job, anybody can do it.
Taxi's were artificially constrained in terms of supply with medallions, that is over. Uber is effectively replacing that with a system that breaks the artificial cartel. Cabs were very easy to displace, the reason why Uber initially broke into the marketplace was because the service from cabs in many cities was just awful, especially DC.
Like it or not any boycott is not going to help. The same downward pressure for low skilled labor exists everywhere. When facing technology that is more efficient, it drives down both costs and wages for those who are not as highly skilled in the face of overwhelming supply of labor for low skilled jobs. The only thing that would drive up prices, is decreased supply of labor. Basically, people having fewer kids. But we will need people having far fewer kids for what the future has in store.
uber has increasingly been adding more and more drivers in our market and across the world. according to rare data released, there's now over 12,000 uber drivers in the dc metro area. That said, Uber has been cutting prices since last summer and it's gotten to the point where one makes less than minimum wage.
they have lived on lies and bullying government officials for so long, both to the consumer and its drivers.
Each market has different rates for the record. its as low as 89- 99 cents a mile(!) in some markets, with a minimum fare of $4. That $4 fare you pay, remove $1 for ubers "safety fee" and then take out 20% from the remaining $3 and that's the drivers cut. That my friends, is a net loss (after factoring expenses).
I was happy when it was $1.75/mile .75 a minute. I was ok with $1.25/mile, .25 cents/min, but I am not ok with $1.02/mile and .20 cents/min. If I was truly a contractor I wouldn't bid my services this low. We drivers deal with a LOT of BS, more so than those in the service industry. We aren't driving someone else's car either.
Uber doesn't understand basic business or anything about statistics. Dropping rates doesn't equal more demand. they simply think if its cheaper, more folks will ask for rides but there's only so many riders we can deal with within an hour. Our cars cant break the speed of light. To make it worse, uber lies to customers about not needing to tip. How would you feel that your pay got cut 20% each quarter or so? and then your boss tells you "hey great! since we cut your salaries, we can make our products cheaper and sell more! yay!"?
hey, I love(d) this job as a part-timer. I got to meet new folks across the region and have interesting chats. Also had bunch of folks who threatened me and such, but overall I felt safe. But we drivers can't send them a message alone either. they don't care about us, they care about you, the passenger/consumers.
anyways, if any other driver who is new reads this, take it from a vet driver. Other vet drivers chime in too.
uh... no. Uber is great. Everyone uses it, and I personally love it. I don't think it's just cheaper, but it's easier to pay for it too. Plus, all of my credit cards are giving away deals with them. I'm pretty sure they understand business.
I've found that Uber drivers would rather take you to place as fast as possible, then pick up another customer. They get something like .30 cents a minute, and if you factor in that gas cost more than time, it works for everyone. I know that whenever I take Uber, they'll get me there faster than the taxi.
uh... no. Uber is great. Everyone uses it, and I personally love it. I don't think it's just cheaper, but it's easier to pay for it too. Plus, all of my credit cards are giving away deals with them. I'm pretty sure they understand business.
I've found that Uber drivers would rather take you to place as fast as possible, then pick up another customer. They get something like .30 cents a minute, and if you factor in that gas cost more than time, it works for everyone. I know that whenever I take Uber, they'll get me there faster than the taxi.
just to be clear uber fires drivers with a rating 4.5 and lower. that's also why some folks wait forever for rides: we fear those passengers with a a 4.7 and lower.Oh and did you know we also rate you? I know many drivers now give you a 3 star for not even handing a tip in various markets. You can have a rating of a 3 star as a passenger and the worst is you wait several minutes(like 20 minutes) for a dumb or new driver who doesn't know about the rating system. If we drop below a 4.5 we get fired. doesn't matter why. So anything less than a 5 star rating = fire him/her is what you're telling uber. its easier to drop my rating down .1 than I is for me to gain that .1 back. I just got mine up .01 and it took me 40 rides giving me all 5 stars.
uber isn't great for either side. They surge the living crap out of fares on passengers and then keep cutting our pay. Since summer ive had my income cut 40%. 25% since august and now another 15%. Their logic is since fares are cheaper, more users will demand the same. Its uber logic here. A fare that was $10 is now $6-7. physics says that I can only do so many rides in a specific time and space. So if given equal number of rides, I'm still losing money because they cut the rates. that's just gross fare, not accounting their 20% cut and my work expense.
truth is, uber's now being overran by those same taxi drivers people complain about. Us English speaking non cab drivers are leaving in droves.
ive cut down on my maintenance. I wash my car once a month, vacuum once a week. mostly do night driving and its black so dirt cant be seen easily. I don't do short trips either. In the end uber isn't changing the game, the game is simply changing parties.
30 cents a minute? sitting in traffic we lose, some more than others depending on their cars. I know I do.But my car isn't good enough for XL (not 5 ppl car). Oh and its now 20 cents a minute that's 75% less than a taxi, and yet hardly anyone bothers to tip the driver (if they have cash of course and that's another big issue drivers have with uber and something we love as lyft drivers since lyft has a tip option) driving uber, but drop a dime on a cabbie.
just to be clear uber fires drivers with a rating 4.5 and lower. that's also why some folks wait forever for rides: we fear those passengers with a a 4.7 and lower.Oh and did you know we also rate you? I know many drivers now give you a 3 star for not even handing a tip in various markets. You can have a rating of a 3 star as a passenger and the worst is you wait several minutes(like 20 minutes) for a dumb or new driver who doesn't know about the rating system. If we drop below a 4.5 we get fired. doesn't matter why. So anything less than a 5 star rating = fire him/her is what you're telling uber. its easier to drop my rating down .1 than I is for me to gain that .1 back. I just got mine up .01 and it took me 40 rides giving me all 5 stars.
uber isn't great for either side. They surge the living crap out of fares on passengers and then keep cutting our pay. Since summer ive had my income cut 40%. 25% since august and now another 15%. Their logic is since fares are cheaper, more users will demand the same. Its uber logic here. A fare that was $10 is now $6-7. physics says that I can only do so many rides in a specific time and space. So if given equal number of rides, I'm still losing money because they cut the rates. that's just gross fare, not accounting their 20% cut and my work expense.
truth is, uber's now being overran by those same taxi drivers people complain about. Us English speaking non cab drivers are leaving in droves.
ive cut down on my maintenance. I wash my car once a month, vacuum once a week. mostly do night driving and its black so dirt cant be seen easily. I don't do short trips either. In the end uber isn't changing the game, the game is simply changing parties.
30 cents a minute? sitting in traffic we lose, some more than others depending on their cars. I know I do.But my car isn't good enough for XL (not 5 ppl car). Oh and its now 20 cents a minute that's 75% less than a taxi, and yet hardly anyone bothers to tip the driver (if they have cash of course and that's another big issue drivers have with uber and something we love as lyft drivers since lyft has a tip option) driving uber, but drop a dime on a cabbie.
A lady in Camry charged me $5 for just stopping by once, because she told me she didn't have enough coins to go through the .75 cents toll. She got my $5, and bad review.
Yes, that's what business is. You don't perform, then you need to make room for people who are willing to, and that's not just for Uber. That's for all businesses.
The idea of Uber was to bring extra money to people using their cars. You can't possibly expect me to have any sympathy for you for not using your head to research (I did, and there are ways to hit the right spots to make $4k a month), and actually WORK for your money. It's even better with the gas price gone down so low these days. And you shouldn't do this as your full time.
There is one girl that I met who just does early morning airport runs, which I heard was a fixed price. She makes more money than I do, because she's smart about it. She hands out cards, and she's willing to do whatever to obtain repeat customers.
If you can't compete, you might want to get out before it burns you.
I'm thinking about doing Uber Black with my car on weekends. It's an extra income, and I get to meet some interesting people on the way.
When you have an oversupply of labor compared with demand, it results in lower pay for labor. This is why low skilled workers are paid so little in general. Driving a car is not a high skill job, anybody can do it.
Taxi's were artificially constrained in terms of supply with medallions, that is over. Uber is effectively replacing that with a system that breaks the artificial cartel. Cabs were very easy to displace, the reason why Uber initially broke into the marketplace was because the service from cabs in many cities was just awful, especially DC.
Like it or not any boycott is not going to help. The same downward pressure for low skilled labor exists everywhere. When facing technology that is more efficient, it drives down both costs and wages for those who are not as highly skilled in the face of overwhelming supply of labor for low skilled jobs. The only thing that would drive up prices, is decreased supply of labor. Basically, people having fewer kids. But we will need people having far fewer kids for what the future has in store.
uber is pretty much determined to make their services be much cheaper than the bus. and boycotting would help us drivers make a stand too.
as if we drivers have a chance. uber claims we aren't employees but "contractors" yet they set the rates, can fire/hire us at will,etc. Uber is essentially making us their Chinese sweatshops and yet no one cares.
before all these rate cuts, I was making on avg $15/hr (after expenses and uber fees), somewhat higher than retail jobs. I was content with it. Now there are nights I make $4/hr (after expenses and fees). Waiters make more than me and have to do less than I do.
A lady in Camry charged me $5 for just stopping by once, because she told me she didn't have enough coins to go through the .75 cents toll. She got my $5, and bad review.
Yes, that's what business is. You don't perform, then you need to make room for people who are willing to, and that's not just for Uber. That's for all businesses.
The idea of Uber was to bring extra money to people using their cars. You can't possibly expect me to have any sympathy for you for not using your head to research (I did, and there are ways to hit the right spots to make $4k a month), and actually WORK for your money. It's even better with the gas price gone down so low these days.
There is one girl that I met who just does early morning airport runs, which I heard was a fixed price.
If you can't compete, you might want to get out before it burns you.
I never bought into the make 90k a year. this is/was a part-time job and beats retail. But think of all those who uber lied to? especially those who are financing cars thanks to uber?
oh im smart about my runs. im as efficient as I can be and that includes never picking up in DC proper. not worth those $5-$8 fares. I need an avg of $13 fares to be content, but now with rate cuts that means an Arlington to NE DC run instead of Arlington to DuPont run.
also what do you mean stopping by once? if im running tolls I ask passenger to pay if I don't have my expass if they wish to take the toll road. if they don't and I have my ez pass and they agree to go on it, itll be charged later on by uber to the passenger.
its not business when the business keeps cutting their employees income and then find ways to screw them out of guaranteed salaries ( last time they had rate change, they guaranteed us 25/hr as long as we did one ride per hour and accepted 80% of rides).
oh and good luck on Black. ubers on track to eliminate black with these decisions. Itll be pretty much UberX, XL, Black but black has specific things your car needs to be. Aka cant be a lexus or Acura. those aren't luxury cars in Uber.
I never bought into the make 90k a year. this is/was a part-time job and beats retail. But think of all those who uber lied to? especially those who are financing cars thanks to uber?
oh im smart about my runs. im as efficient as I can be and that includes never picking up in DC proper. not worth those $5-$8 fares. I need an avg of $13 fares to be content, but now with rate cuts that means an Arlington to NE DC run instead of Arlington to DuPont run.
also what do you mean stopping by once? if im running tolls I ask passenger to pay if I don't have my expass if they wish to take the toll road. if they don't and I have my ez pass and they agree to go on it, itll be charged later on by uber to the passenger.
its not business when the business keeps cutting their employees income and then find ways to screw them out of guaranteed salaries ( last time they had rate change, they guaranteed us 25/hr as long as we did one ride per hour and accepted 80% of rides).
oh and good luck on Black. ubers on track to eliminate black with these decisions. Itll be pretty much UberX, XL, Black but black has specific things your car needs to be. Aka cant be a lexus or Acura. those aren't luxury cars in Uber.
Yeh, this girl is in way over six figures. I met a lot of good Uber drivers, and they never once told me to protest them, and stop the service all together like you're doing on an open forum. You know why? She's researching, and making connection with her clientele right now, instead of ASKING strangers to become a socialist.
Grow up.
What did you really think? You think you drive few people at your comfort, and make six figures? Please...
Also, don't worry about me. I'm smarter than you are, and my car is the top 3 brand car that uber wants. I bought it for that in mind. I know all this stuff you're sorta puking all over this forum. I did my research, and I know what I have to do to make money being a Uber driver. I don't complaint, because I know what I'm getting into, and that's including making profit when the Uber reduces the price. That's what Business is.
Yeh, this girl is in way over six figures. I met a lot of good Uber drivers, and they never once told me to protest them, and stop the service all together like you're doing on an open forum. You know why? She's researching, and making connection with her clientele right now, instead of ASKING strangers to become a socialist.
Grow up.
What did you really think? You think you drive few people at your comfort, and make six figures? Please...
Also, don't worry about me. I'm smarter than you are, and my car is the top 3 brand car that uber wants. I bought it for that in mind. I know all this stuff you're sorta puking all over this forum. I did my research, and I know what I have to do to make money being a Uber driver. I don't complaint, because I know what I'm getting into, and that's including making profit when the Uber reduces the price. That's what Business is.
no, what im doing is teaching the ignorant masses in one specific market. drivers cant protest their employer because a manager will simply log into his job while sipping lattes at Starbucks and via a click fire people. Most passengers are willing to pay more than the current rates but not those 5x-16x surges. This simple fact eludes the top folks at uber and lyft.Let alone the fact uber manufactures surges at specific times and dates. I highly doubt there are more than 12,000 passengers in the area needing the rides at 5pm.exactly at 5pm (for example).
you have a top car for uber you say? why do I sense you are part of uber? would you drive for say, 85 cents a mile in that car?
no one makes 6 figures driving for uber. no one, especially working part-time. I too can pull out BS numbers just like uber to say I make $60/hr. To even make a decent salary you're putting in 60+ hours. And that's if you're working smart and avoiding certain rides.
the whole point to my post is that Those who enjoy these services better join the drivers and speak up along them to uber OR enjoy those cab drivers who double dip driving for yellow cab and uber.
OH! but one last thing: uber now requires for us to earn 5 stars, we allow passengers to use OUR phones so they can listen to spotify. When you drive for uber, you can either use your own phone to work or pay them $40/month to use a crappy 3G iphone( which all you can do is use a calculator,maps and uber app). So not only am I being paid less, im increasing my bill because to earn 5 stars according to them, I must share my personal data I pay my cellphone provider with passengers. free of charge of course for them.
All I want is at the end of my week, to earn at very minimum the federal minimum wage after expenses and payout to uber. And insurance that they pay for (or why the hell do we pay them 20% of our gross income anyway? their IT dept is epic fail which remind me of freshmen interns running it)
and im not even going to bother the issues we deal with in our region, since we serve 2 states and the district.
as if we drivers have a chance. uber claims we aren't employees but "contractors" yet they set the rates, can fire/hire us at will,etc. Uber is essentially making us their Chinese sweatshops and yet no one cares.
No one cares.
Uber drivers are not employees. An "employee" can't decide when and how many hours he's going to work. To my knowledge, Uber can't tell a driver, "You need to work 6 more hours today or else you're fired." The ability to terminate a contractual relationship alone is not sufficient to establish an employer-employee relationship. The fact that most Uber drivers use their own cars makes it even less likely a court would consider them employees.
If Uber is so bad, then why not just drive a cab? What were you doing before Uber?
truth is, uber's now being overran by those same taxi drivers people complain about. Us English speaking non cab drivers are leaving in droves.
Eh. I don't think I've ever encountered a full-time Uber driver. Most have been people who are just trying to bag a little cash on a Friday night or a day off from their real job.
If you're out here trying to turn Uber into a full-time profession, then it begs the question of what you were doing before Uber emerged on the scene? Were you operating an illegal taxi service? If so, I fail to see how that pays better than Uber. I guess I just don't understand why anyone thinks Uber should entitle them to $70K in earnings per year, especially when the average cab driver was making around $35K before Uber.
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